I'm so glad you are asking these questions now. Call your school district and find out who the contact is for special education services. Find out what needs to be done to have your son evaluated and classified as needing services. Do this before the end of the school year. March through May is when schools are having their IEP meetings, so call ASAP.

An IEP is an Individual Education Plan that spells out the goals and objectives as well as the services and devices the school will provide for the year. Your school district must give you a handbook of your rights in the special education process.

A very good place to get started learning about all of this is at the Listen Up website at www.listen-up.org/rights/rights.htm. The entire website has tons of need to know information, but this particular area is a good starting point for parents. They also offer a listserv comprised of parents of deaf and hard of hearing children. Some of the parents are professional advocates and offer excellent advice and guidance on the listserv. You can join it by using the link on the main page of the site at www.lisetn-up.org.

You may be able to get your district to pay for the FM system. Check with your son's audiologist to discuss his needs. Does he have a language delay? With appropriate aids and a mild to moderate loss, he may do quite well. However, if the teacher walks around the room a lot and the class is large with poor acoustics and a lot of background noise, it makes sense to consider an FM system as it will reduce the level of noise for him.

Hope this has been helpful. Welcome to HearingExchange!

Paula

Best of luck